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Beware of parks

Our readers do not need to go through the long and dreadful story of the Paramo of Santurbán, the country’s biggest gold deposit. In short, environmentalists have long been fighting the development of this area and when science failed to confirm that the entire mountain needed to be protected, they went the political route and had the area declared a park. This left many companies with mining concessions “high-and-dry”.Ecogold – formerly known as Greystar – had apparently sunk over US$450M in developing its property which was at the center of the firestorm. Now government officials are confused about what comes next.

Friday, January 25th, 2013
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Mining and energy locomotive slows because of attacks

Mining and energy locomotive slows because of attacks

Business newspaper La Republica reports that the mining and energy locomotive is slowing its advance due to terrorist attacks. In July 2012 the Cerrejon suffered seven attacks while Ecopetrol reported 49 to September of the same year. This caused sector goals in 2012 to not be fully met. “Without doubt the reported attacks influenced the outcome of mining GDP, which slowed last year,” said María Constanza García, National Mining Agency (ANM) president.

Thursday, January 24th, 2013
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MinHacienda Cardenas sells Colombia at Davos

This week, MinHacienda Mauricio Cardenas went to the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland to sell the Colombian success story. Earlier in the week he told Bloomberg he was not looking for foreign direct investment but was looking to sell the country’s bonds. From a MinHacienda press release, translated and with comments by Hydrocarbons Colombia.

Thursday, January 24th, 2013
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Llanos still dominate drilling

Llanos still dominate drilling

We have not published these statistics from Campetrol for a while and they are somewhat old considering all the evidence of drilling activity in 4Q12. They do indicate where the action is and the Free / Contract statistics are evidence of availability for those who need equipment (for glass half full types) or perhaps lack of activity (for glass half empty types). Utilization was at 70% in October 2012 versus 83% in November 2011. (Note that our numbers vary somewhat from Campetrol’s figures. See the Methodological Note at the bottom of the article.)

Wednesday, January 23rd, 2013
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Cumaral inhabitants complain about oil companies – Villavicencio to hold hearings

Local news site NoticiasdeVillavicencio.com reports that inhabitants of the municipality of Cumaral (Meta) denounced that cracks in the area’s mountains have appeared due to oil companies’ seismic work.. The environment secretary of Villavicencio, Nelson Vivas Mora, said it is important to protect the rights and interests of the Cumaral residents.

Wednesday, January 23rd, 2013
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Analyst Salomon Kalmanovitz on mining, oil and other topics

In an interview with Cali newspaper El Pais, the economist Salomon Kalmanovitz spoke about, among other things, the recent tax reform, mining and oil. According Kalmanovitz the reform was not made in depth. He said: “It was mostly tax cuts and the increase was a congressional initiative and not of the government: a one point in the income tax rate from 33 to 34%”.

Wednesday, January 23rd, 2013
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MinMinas Federico Renjifo makes a statement about corporate behavior

Last Friday, January 18, 2013 MinMinas Federico Renjifo toured Meta speaking with local inhabitants, mayors and visiting Ecopetrol projects. We thought it interesting very relevant for its comments on environmental and community management. From a MinMinas press release, translated and with commentary by Hydrocarbons Colombia.

Wednesday, January 23rd, 2013
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The Farc’s unilateral ceasefire is over

It was never an absolute cease fire. Colombia’s ombudsman (“Defensor del Pueblo”) reported 57 separate violations (see for example this RCN TV report) and the MinDefensa never stopped saying that the Farc continued to operate, sometimes through third-parties like criminal gangs or the country’s other major guerrilla group, the ELN. This latter qualification gave President Juan Manuel Santos leave to say the Farc had complied which perhaps was good diplomacy but we doubt even he believes that.

The truce ended as it started: blowing up the TransAndino pipeline.

Monday, January 21st, 2013
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US$40.5M will be invested on tertiary road network in four departments

According Leónidas Narváez Morales, Invías CEO, as told to W Radio, US$40.5M will be allocated for the tertiary road network of the Antioquia, Norte de Santander, Cundinamarca and Santander departments. The disbursement needs permission of the National Planning Department (DNP).

Monday, January 21st, 2013
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USO news summary from January 13th 2012 to January 19th 2013

The USO is back from vacation as well and so things heated up. Perhaps the biggest news is of labor strife at the country’s largest coal mine Cerrejon, news which also made the national media. It is news (and relevant for us to report although not strictly about oil and gas) because Cerrejon has always been an exemplary company with a strong Corporate Social Responsibility program and so having labor strife is a surprise.

Monday, January 21st, 2013
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